Romania’s central bank spent more than €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in March to defend the leu against global market turmoil sparked by Middle East conflict, according to people familiar with the matter. The intervention came as currency markets faced unprecedented volatility following regional tensions that threatened to destabilize emerging market currencies.

The massive spending underscores how quickly geopolitical risks can spill over into financial markets, forcing central banks to act decisively. Romania’s aggressive defense of its currency highlights the vulnerability of emerging economies to external shocks, particularly when regional conflicts create uncertainty about energy supplies and trade routes in Eastern Europe.

This intervention represents one of the largest single-month currency defense efforts by a European central bank this year. The scale of Romania’s response suggests authorities viewed the threat to financial stability as severe enough to warrant extraordinary measures, even at significant cost to foreign exchange reserves.